FanHouse KylePetty

Former Sprint Cup driver Kyle Petty made some interesting comments last weekend at Daytona that were somewhat swept under the rug.

Of course, the factors of the race being the biggest on the circuit and the controversy that followed will often do that news stories of smaller value.

However, Petty's words indicated that there was obviously a healthy dose of tension between him and the rest of the leaders at the now-former Petty Enterprises -- including his father, Richard -- thanks to the business moves the team has made in the past year.

The famed No. 43, the legendary Petty blue and everything that NASCAR's "King" Richard Petty helped to produce in his legendary 200-win and seven-championship career at Petty Enterprises seems to be slipping fast.

The team released 35 to 39 more employees this week on top of over over 30 that were let go immediately following the Sprint Cup season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November, bringing the total to nearly 70 people. ESPN says roughly 54 people remain at the shop.

Those 54 people are apparently waiting on any bit of good news that may come their way in terms of their employment -- and that news might just involve a merger with Gillette-Evernham Motorsports. Such a deal would see the famous No. 43 and possibly 2000 Sprint Cup champ Bobby Labonte move to the GEM stable to create a four-car team.

ESPN's David Newton said a possibility remains that the merger would happen and Labonte move to the GEM No. 41 Target ride while A.J. Allmendinger takes over the No. 43.

Petty's problems come directly from the fact that the team lacks full-season support for the two teams it wants to race in 2009 -- Labonte's No. 43 and a car for the young Chad McCumbee. General Mills left the team at the end of 2008 and will sponsor Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer in 2009.

Even more surprising is that a face of Petty Enterprises no longer associates himself with the team.

There's been a lot of turmoil in the Petty Enterprises camp as of late thanks to a number of problems facing the once dominant (like, 20 years ago) but now struggling race team thanks primarily to the funding coffers starting to dry up.

The problem is simple -- PE wants to race two teams next season with Bobby Labonte and Chad McCumbee full time with current driver Kyle Petty on a part-time basis without having any sort of adequate funding. So naturally, when money gets tight, people turn sour, and problems arise.

As a result, Kyle Petty (Richard Petty's son who has been in the NASCAR game since 1979 with eight career wins) might be ride-less in 2009 in a move that would likely end what has been a slow trickle down of the number of races he's entered in the past two years.

"Right now, I got nothing," Petty said Saturday at Phoenix, where he'll start 35th in his last race of the year. "Straight up, I got nothing. So I'm still just looking."

Sunday's race at Phoenix International Raceway (FanHouse is live-bloggin' it again!) will be Petty's last race of the 2008 season because the up and coming McCumbee will try to make the season finale next week at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Petty has tested with and considered running in a road course racing series in 2009 -- a medium of racing he has some prior experience in.

Boris Said has ended up with a ride for Sunday's Sprint Cup event at Watkins Glen thanks to Kyle Petty and his No. 45 Petty Enterprises Dodge.

By offering their equipment to the road racing ace, Petty's team hopes to learn something for the future.

But for Said, he's just happy to actually be in the race because of what looks like an unfair system for drivers not inside the Top-35 in owner points.

And for Brian Simo -- who also didn't qualify and doesn't have the luxury of another ride -- the method NASCAR used on Friday at Watkins Glen after rain came was even more unfair.

NASCAR canceled the Sprint Cup series' first practice and the qualifying session thanks to the rain, but still had time to get a full practice in for the Nationwide Series, in addition to a Grand Am series race.

I'll let Boris explain why that isn't exactly fair:

In case you hadn't noticed, Kyle Petty hasn't been in a race car since May for the Coca-Cola 600.

Since then, a number of things have taken precedence over him returning to the No. 45 Petty Enterprises Dodge. First, it was his daughter's wedding, then he had the six race TV commentator stint with TNT. Last weekend at Indy, Petty put Terry Labonte in the car to make sure the No. 45 made the race thanks to Terry's past champion provisional.

And after that Brickyard tire fiasco, it was pretty obvious that he made the right choice to not be behind the wheel.

But, after missing seven straight races because of the other commitments, Petty will also miss this weekend's Sprint Cup race at Pocono Raceway, instead having young gun Chad McCumbee in the driver's seat.

Petty is supposed to return to the No. 45 for next weekend's road course event at Watkins Glen -- at track he won at in the early 90's. Terry Labonte, though, will be in the car for the race at Michigan International Speedway the following week.

When I woke up Wednesday morning, inside my box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (It's got the swirls!) was a toy die-cast car of Richard Petty's No. 43 with Fruity Cheerios on the hood.

Naturally, I was inspired to put on the hat of Kyle Petty, and predict what would happen at the Wednesday news conference hosted by Petty Enterprises -- or at least predict what I think should happen.

On the PE website, there is a word of of a news conference for "news about the future of the organization". So then, what really should be in the future of the organization? Here's my list and the odds that it will happen:

1) Get an outside investor: It's been obvious for many years now that PE has been heavily underfunded compared to the biggest teams in NASCAR. Now, there's been rumors galore this season of a new influx of cash coming on board, and I certainly hope its true.

Petty needs that investor to make the team viable in the Sprint Cup world again. Odds: 1/1

2) Sign Bobby Labonte: It's been frustrating for Bobby Labonte fans since his 2000 championship with Joe Gibbs Racing because the driver simply hasn't had the equipment to do more after his move to Petty Enterprises. There have been flashes of the Bobby Labonte of old but each time, it seems, the equipment he's in from PE holds him back.

The Sprint All-Star Race XXIV is scheduled for Saturday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway. As the teams prepare for the winner-take-all non-points event, stay with the FanHouse all week for plenty of All-Star coverage.

Buddy Baker in the TV booth sure summed up Davey Allison's win in the 1992 edition of The Winston by saying "he won the race, but sure paid the price." Indeed, he did.

Watch below as Allison battles Kyle Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the final lap.



Heading to the white flag, Earnhardt was leading in the first event at the then-Charlotte Motor Speedway to be run under the lights. Earnhardt led until Petty mounted a charge down the backstretch and got to his rear bumper in Turn 3.

Darlington Raceway has apparently not lost a single bit of its dangerous edge.

At least three backup cars rolled off Sprint Cup haulers Friday afternoon after no less than 9 drivers had an incident in the practice sessions leading up to both qualifying on Friday night and Saturday night's Dodge Challenger 400. For the third week in a row, the cars will be impounded immediately after qualifying until the race.

Most notably of the four drivers heading to a backup car was Hendrick Motorsports' Jimmie Johnson, who used his primary No. 48 in the early session, and then in the final practice, spun again. The damage to the backup will be repairable, though.

Additionally, Reed Sorenson and Paul Menard will head to a backup car before the qualifying session.

The wrecks came Friday on a weekend schedule for the Sprint Cup Series that differed quite a bit from the norm. Instead of simply practicing and qualifying on Friday and racing Saturday at Darlington, the teams were given extra track time Thursday afternoon and evening after the legendary speedway was repaved over the off season.

Last week's winner at Richmond Clint Bowyer, Kyle Petty, Denny Hamlin, David Ragan, and Robby Gordon all got a piece of the wrecking action as well on Friday. Numerous other cars earned a "Darlington Stripe" after scrubbing the wall. Hamlin ended the final session with the top posted lap speed.

Qualifying starts at 5:00pm/ET Friday live on SPEED.

So after some tom-foolery here on FanHouse this morning, here's today's real news:

Bobby Labonte, the 2000 NASCAR Sprint Cup Champion, looks to be more convincingly headed to Richard Childress Racing for the 2009 season with sponsor General Mills.

Yahoo! first reported some possibilities between Labonte and RCR, and with today's announcement from General Mills about moving to RCR for 2009, the Labonte rumor only heats up.

Here's some text from the General Mills announcement by way of the Charlotte Observer's David Poole:

General Mills will sponsor a fourth team at RCR, the No. 33 Chevrolets. No driver was named for that car, but there has already been at least one published report that Bobby Labonte will move along with the sponsor to RCR.

"RCR is honored to represent General Mills and its Cheerios, Hamburger Helper and many other brands in the NASCAR Cup Series," team owner Richard Childress said.

Labonte seems like an ideal fit for that ride, as he already is driving for Childress in the Nationwide Series. The move to Petty Enterprises for the champion hasn't panned out like he thought it would with a resurgence of success at PE.

You've got to think that Petty Enterprises has to be feeling a little bit of heat in losing a primary sponsor when Kyle Petty is having a tough time even making races and Labonte isn't able to perform at his level due to equipment.

Silly season each year in NASCAR just can't start soon enough anymore, can it?

So ... remember Kyle Petty fell to the 35th spot last week? Well, should he happen to fall out of the top 35, he's gone and lined up a former champion to ensure the #45 Dodge qualifies.

Petty had to look no further than his own teammate, 2000 Winston Cup Champion Bobby Labonte.

"Look, as long as they don't change the rules and the rulebook is written that way, we're in the business to run racecars. We have two racecars -- the 43 and the 45. Those are our racecars. Right now Richard Petty owns both racecars, and we've got one driver with the championship provisional and another driver who is on the bubble. Whatever it takes to get those in, I don't see the issue with it.

OMG! Genius! Soooo genius I can't even believe this is allowed. Why is this allowed?